A typical shower stall or bath enclosure consists of three tiled or otherwise waterproof walls with an open fourth wall. Located at the base of the walls is typically a bathtub. Access to the bathtub is made across the rim of the bathtub beneath the open wall. A shower head is typically provided which when activated will spray water centrally down into the bathtub. To prevent water from escaping during showering, a flexible curtain is typically provided which slides across a fixed rod suspended across the open side above the rim.
Notwithstanding the flexible curtain, problems often arise with the leakage of water from the bathtub or shower enclosure. In the prior art, there are a number of proposals which are directed to solving this problem. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,050 a device is shown which attempts to attach the bathtub curtain more directly to the wall of the tub to prevent any water from leaking over the edge of the tub. However, this device is awkward to use, requiring that the connection between the shower curtain and the device be made each time a shower is commenced. Further, the device is not very durable since once connected the shower curtain is likely to rip or tear if bumped accidentally. Finally it is not very effective because water will still tend to migrate to the top of the bathtub rim, where it may then tend to spill out over the edge.
Other devices have been proposed which comprise essentially corner shields or fins to prevent water from migrating from the end wall down onto the rim and then past the corner of the tub onto the floor. Such devices include U.S. Pat. No. 3,855,642 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,9044,050. However, these devices present barriers to entry into the shower enclosure and might well be dangerous if a person were to slip and fall on them. Therefore, these devices are not satisfactory.
One of the most satisfactory prior devices is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,473,911 which is directed to a bathtub rim water dam. However, there are several problems associated with this water dam which render it ineffective. Firstly, the material used is a very stiff plastic. The plastic has a memory unless it is heated above a certain temperature in which case it will deform non-elastically. To install the device it is necessary to heat the strip of plastic for example over an electrical element of a stove and form a bend in the device to cover the transition between the top surface of the bathtub rim and the inside edge of the bathtub. However, because forming the bend takes place at a position remote from the actual bathtub, it can be very difficult to gauge the exact bend required. Although an adhesive backing is provided, because of the inherent memory of the plastic of this device, the strip often lifts away from the tub due to a difference in the bend achieved and the actual tub surface.
Further, this device as shown extends across the corner of the bathtub which is often a place where bathtub articles are stored. Use of this device therefore removes the corner of the bathtub from being a usable ledge.
Further, water splashing onto the back wall will have a tendency to run down the back wall. As it runs down the back wall it may also have a tendency to spread out. Since the device only extends across the rim, any water coming from above may land on the edge of the strip and may well run down the outside of the tub.
Finally, a portion of the strip extends down into the tub, and gets exposed to soap, hot water, bath oil and the like, which may seriously compromise the adhesive.